Feels Like Coming Home
by Rasengan22
Summary: Sasuke returns home to England after six years and accidentally runs into the last person he thought he wanted to see again.


It started to rain as Sasuke was walking toward the High street of Worcester's town centre. He pulled up the hood of his sweatshirt, having forgotten just how unpredictable the weather could be. As he crossed the street near the Odeon, the rain began to fall more heavily, so he was quick to duck underneath the awning of a bakery. Its window displayed all shapes and sizes of bread. They'd left the door open, and the sweet smell hung in the air as he passed. After a few minutes of waiting, the rain lightened, and he was able to resume walking. However, the instant he stepped off of the curb, a bicyclist rushed in front of him without looking. He tried to move out of the way, but the pavement was slick. Sasuke slipped off of the edge, his right ankle buckling beneath him. Wincing, he tried to muffle the noise of pain he made as he stumbled back to the concrete wall for support. He checked around to see if anyone had seen him slip, embarrassed for having so stupidly lost his footing. He tried putting weight on it, but the ankle was most definitely sprained. Slouching against the wall, he tugged his hood more tightly around his face and kept his knee bent to relieve some of the pressure.

"Hey. Y'alright?"

Sasuke didn't look up and was hoping the stranger with the irritating Brummie accent would pass and mind his own business.

"I saw that asshole nearly run you over. Are you sure you're okay?"

Slowly, Sasuke raised his eyes. "Naruto?" he asked, half in wonder as the other man held an umbrella above his head.

"Uh yeah," Naruto laughed and rubbed the back of his neck self-consciously. "Do we know each other?"

Sasuke tugged down his hood and smoothed his hair away from his face. Naruto took a step away from him.

"Sasuke," he said, sounding shocked and not looking very thrilled to see him. "Wh-what are you doing here?"

When Naruto backed off with the umbrella in hand, it left him prey to the rain. It soaked the front of his sweatshirt. Naruto immediately stepped forward again, noticing as quickly as Sasuke had. He held the umbrella aloft.

"Sorry." Naruto switched the umbrella to his other hand. "It's just. I haven't seen you in, like," he counted on his hand, "Six years?"

Unfortunately, others also required this sidewalk and with everyone else carrying umbrellas, they were squished together against the wall. Naruto's ears and cheeks were red, he noticed.

"Yes. It's," Sasuke cleared his throat, "Been a while."

"What are you in town for?"

"I'm visiting a family member. I was just walking back from the hospital."

"Funny," Naruto grinned apprehensively. "I don't remember you being so clumsy when we were younger."

Sasuke, again, tried to put weight on his leg so that he could straighten up and allow for more room between their bodies, but all it did was result in a sharp shooting pain that traveled to his lower back.

"Do you want me to get you a cab and have it take you to the hospital? Sort of sucks though, since you just came from there and all."

"Yes. It does _sort of _suck." He grimaced as he tried to take a step and faltered. On instinct, Naruto reached out a hand to support him.

"Ah," Naruto's eyes were wide. Quickly, he removed his hand.

"I'm fine," Sasuke ended up saying, pushing his wet hair out of his eyes. "I was headed to the bus stop. My hotel's near the train station."

"I see. Well, if you want. I don't live far from here, just two blocks. I think you should probably elevate your foot and put some ice on it."

Sasuke smirked a little. "Did you graduate and become a doctor, Uzumaki?"

"Huh? No, why?"

Sasuke shook his head. "Nevermind."

"So, do you want to?" Naruto glanced around to either side of them as if what he was suggesting he didn't want anyone to hear.

"Do I want to what?"

Naruto stared at him, his cheeks going flush again. "Come back to my flat."

Sasuke involuntarily sucked in a breath and couldn't answer right away.

"It's fine if you don't want to. I just thought I'd offer since it's close."

"No," he said. "I want to."

Naruto looked like he didn't believe him. "Really?"

"Like you said, we haven't seen each other in a long time."

"No, we really haven't." Naruto held him by the arm, and managed to take most of Sasuke's weight while still holding the umbrella over their heads.

They had to walk slowly. The rain had started falling harder. Neither spoke for the entire time it took to get to Naruto's flatshare. As they entered through the doorway, Sasuke propped himself against the wall while Naruto shook out the umbrella from on the porch. He came into the entranceway, standing beside Sasuke as he shut the door.

"Want help with your sweatshirt?" he asked Sasuke.

"Sure," said Sasuke, and as an afterthought, added, "Cheers."

Naruto helped yank it over his head. "No problem. I'll stick it on the radiator so it can dry."

He disappeared into the lounge. Sasuke hobbled to the doorway and took a look around. It was a small room. A tired looking couch on one wall, a futon on another. The futon was perpendicular to a built-in bookcase with two small storage cabinets underneath. There was a large flat screen TV in the corner and underneath it, a couple of gaming consoles and a DVD player. Between the TV and the built-in was a fireplace, but it didn't look to be in working order.

Naruto moved the coffee table away from the couch. "You can sit here. Put your foot on the table. I'll go get some ice. Do you want anything to drink? Tea? Coffee?"

Sasuke looked at Naruto, perfectly ready to say he was fine and didn't need anything. "Tea would be fantastic," he said instead.

Naruto gave him a very genuine smile. "Milk, no sugar?"

Sasuke took a careful couple of steps and stood in front of the sofa. He nodded, only half-surprised Naruto remembered. "Milk. No sugar."

"It'll be just a sec. You can turn the TV on if you want," offered Naruto as he left the lounge.

He didn't bother with the TV. There was a window, draped with a sheer blue curtain, that looked out onto the street in front of the flat. The rain fell steadily. He could hear the kettle rumbling from the kitchen and the sound of the refrigerator opening and closing. Sasuke wondered why he'd agreed to come. Maybe it was because otherwise he'd be spending a lonely night in the hotel. He hadn't thought anyone he knew would still live around here. Naruto, he hadn't seen since they graduated, and last he heard, he and Sakura had gotten engaged, but maybe he'd heard wrong. There were no pictures anywhere. He could only infer that Naruto probably lived with several flatmates, though they didn't seem to be home at present.

Naruto walked in with two steaming mugs. He handed one to Sasuke and then took a seat on the futon. It felt good to hold something warm in his hands. It might've been a while, but he'd always remembered Naruto as being more outgoing than this. He didn't seem comfortable having Sasuke here. As a distraction, he sipped his tea.

"Oh, I forgot the ice," Naruto said suddenly and went back into the kitchen.

Sasuke hadn't thought anything of it either having momentarily forgotten as well. He set the mug down. Naruto came back in with a Ziploc bag full of tiny, square-shaped ice cubes.

"Do you need help with your shoe?" He hovered in front of Sasuke, making him anxious in turn.

"I think I can handle it." Sasuke leaned forward to untie his boot, stopping for a second to wince when he had to bend his ankle. He peeled down the sock. The ankle was swollen and already had some purple bruising to it.

"Does it hurt? It looks pretty bad."

When Sasuke glanced up, Naruto was still staring at his ankle, his teeth pressing into his bottom lip and creating a crease. Naruto's eyes met his, but then he quickly looked away.

"I guess that's a stupid question, huh?" Naruto muttered as he scratched his neck and handed over the ice bag. "Obviously it hurts."

Sasuke, though feeling awkward about it, put his foot on the table and pressed the bag to the swelling. "You seem different," he said quietly. "Then what I remember."

"Do I? Hm." Naruto returned to the futon. He hunched forward, with elbows on both knees, the rim of the mug near his lips.

"You have flatmates?" Sasuke tried to relax. He pulled the table a bit closer and leaned into the sofa. It was more comfortable than it looked.

Naruto seemed to have something on his mind. He glanced at him with widened eyes as if he hadn't heard the question. "What was that?"

"You live in a flatshare. Do you have roommates?"

"Oh, yeah. I do. Three of them, though one's out of the country on holiday. The other two are at work. I work from home, so yeah. I was on my way to Lloyd's and Tesco's when I ran into you."

"I see," said Sasuke. "I've kept you from your errands."

Naruto shrugged his shoulders. "Nothing I can't do tomorrow. Um, I know this is sorta weird, but it's good to see you. I just, y'know, obviously wasn't expecting it."

"I don't know why you would."

Naruto cleared his throat. "I'm sorry to hear that a family member is ill. I hope it's not too serious?"

"It's not serious in that there were no complications. My uncle's recovering from heart surgery. They have him in an induced coma, but he should be waking up soon."

"I heard about your Dad, Sasuke. I'm very sorry."

Sasuke's grip on the mug tightened. "Yes, well." He gazed out the window. "Thanks."

"I guess lots of stuff has happened since we were 18, huh?"

"You could say that. I thought you and Sakura would've been married by now. You proposed shortly after graduation, didn't you?"

"Oh, well yeah." Naruto avoided his gaze. He shifted on the futon, looking down at his hand in his lap. "I was a bit impulsive back then."

"She didn't turn you down did she?"

"No, she didn't."

Sasuke didn't know what to make of the responses or Naruto's withdrawn demeanor other than it was an uncomfortable topic.

"It's a funny story actually," Naruto spoke up after they'd both gone quiet for a few minutes. "Well, I guess it's not that funny. We _were _married. Though, she sort've had wanted to wait until after we were done with uni, but I was pretty insistent. Heh." He scratched his nose.

"Yes. You were definitely one to act without thinking it through."

Something like the old Naruto glinted in his eyes. "Well, not all of us could be perfect."

As he'd relaxed the instant Naruto relaxed, Sasuke scoffed playfully. "Of course not. That role was mine to play."

Naruto smiled, but it was strained. "Then you went off to the States to study."

"It was the best opportunity for me."

Naruto bit the corner of his lip, quiet and thoughtful once more. "I think so, too." He paused. "We got divorced a year ago. Sakura and me."

All Sasuke managed was an ineloquent, "Hm."

"Have you ever known that feeling?" Naruto asked.

"Of being divorced?"

Naruto chuckled. He gazed into his mug for a long while as he made a gesture of pushing his hair behind an ear. "No, of loving someone, but not having them love you back in the same way?"

When Naruto raised his eyes and they met with Sasuke's, there was something there that made him want to look away. But he didn't out of stubbornness, though he felt the full brunt of the awkwardness it aroused.

"I'm not sure," he finally answered.

Naruto gave a short nod, almost as if disappointed. "I didn't think so. Though I'm sure everyone who meets you falls for you. Just like back then."

"Is that how you saw it?" Sasuke moved the ice to the other side of his ankle just to relieve a bit of the chill.

"That's how everybody saw it. Especially the guys in our third year."

"You made friends more easily than I did."

"I dunno," Naruto cocked his head and pressed his index finger to his lip. "Maybe it was that we all had somethin' in common to be friends over."

"What, your mutual distaste of me?" Sasuke smirked.

Naruto laughed, but it sounded self-mocking. "I might've hated you at first, but I was really just jealous. Sakura had such a huge thing for you, and you wouldn't even give her the time of day. You didn't give anybody the time of day."

This bit of information tripped up his thoughts entirely. Sakura, he had been aware, often doted on him, but it was as Naruto said, he hadn't given her a second thought other than to appreciate she was intellectually superior to most of their other classmates. They were often part of the same academic clubs, but beyond that, there was nothing. He was suddenly left with an unsettling feeling.

It seemed as if coming here had been more of an imposition than he supposed.

He stared at the ice now melting in the bag. "I should probably be going."

"Why?" asked Naruto.

It was a simple enough question.

When he looked at Naruto, he saw eyes full of veiled sorrow. Eyes that spoke of experiences over the past six years that he hadn't been a part of and was not privy to. He could not answer because he was unable to reply truthfully. Because, there was very much a part of him that did not want to leave this cozy lounge, with the both of them here talking, and the rain beating against the window.

Sasuke had lost his father, though their relationship had been tenuous at the end. Naruto had lost a wife, and, for all he knew, maybe more than that. However, this was life. An ebbing tide that cared not whether it eroded the sands it breached, whether it swept the grains out to sea. What we gained, we inevitably would lose with time, and it was only a matter of when.

Naruto called his name, and Sasuke snapped back to reality.

"What? Is the pain getting worse?" asked Naruto, his brows drawn in worry.

"Something like that," he mumbled.

Naruto started to get up from the futon. "Do you want me to get some more ice?"

Sasuke put his hand out and waved it to dismiss the notion. "I'm fine. I think I've already been a bother to you."

Naruto sat down. "What makes you say that?"

"Just a feeling."

"So what about you, Sasuke."

The way Naruto said his name he found very distracting. "Me?"

"Are you married? Seeing someone?" Naruto made a face that showed he found this question amusing, "Kids?"

"Many," said Sasuke sarcastically, not finding the question nearly as amusing.

"Many kids?" Naruto asked, grinning. "Really now."

"Yes. I've left several a single mother in my wake. I have so many now that I can't count."

"Ah, I see. You're like that guy on TV. The sperm donor? He has about 72 kids now."

"Oh so you saw me on that?" Sasuke smirked as Naruto laughed.

"Your sense of humor has really improved," said Naruto. "Though, to be fair, it wasn't all that bad back then. You just never showed it to anyone."

"Except you." Sasuke glanced at him, wanting to see the reaction the admission would stir. He was not disappointed. Naruto colored, his lips parting half way as if he wanted to say something, but some apparent inner turmoil prevented him.

"I thought you wouldn't remember," Naruto replied, his voice so quiet that Sasuke almost didn't hear him. "Sasuke, I..."

"Hm?" The warm response slipped from his lips, an invitation to continue.

Naruto looked pained. "You left. Just like that. Without warning, and I..."

"Not without warning. But, I know."

"I didn't know what else to do."

Sasuke smiled sadly, feeling a constriction growing in his chest. "You did what I wanted you to do."

"It didn't work out though. I couldn't forget - "

"Naruto." Sasuke shut his eyes.

Naruto sighed.

"I shouldn't have come back with you. I should've taken the cab."

Naruto set his mug on the bookshelf. Sasuke tried not to look at him. He was turning into the old Naruto, the one whose eyes had so often looked at him full of determination, longing, a desire to be understood, to have his attention. It was draining to say the least, and far too much of a burden for him to be able to carry the weight of its meaning. He'd cut that tie such a long time ago with the hopes he'd find happiness with Sakura.

"You know what I want to say, right?" asked Naruto. "That's why you aren't looking at me. That it's fate that's brought you back here."

Sasuke's eyes snapped to him. "Fate? It's fate my uncle had a heart attack? It's not fate. If it's anything, it's coincidence. This was where we grew up, where we went to school. Don't be a child."

"But neither of us have immediate family here anymore. You've been in the States and Australia and Japan and wherever, and I was living with Sakura in Bristol until a year ago."

"And so what?" Sasuke asked. "So what? I live in Boston now, you live here. I haven't seen or spoken to you in years. Too much has changed between then and now - "

"Nothing has changed!" Naruto got to his feet and came toward him, eyes narrowed in such passionate anger. "Nothing has changed at all. Not you, not me. You're the same Sasuke I remember."

"_You're _not the Naruto I remember," he said nastily.

"Liar. He's in there alright, and I may have been through some shit, and you have, too, and maybe I was surprised as hell to see you walking along the pavement as if nothing had changed, but now that I know you haven't forgotten," he trailed off, but Sasuke could read from his face exactly what he was thinking.

"No."

Sasuke slid his leg off the coffee table. He needed to get out of here. He'd, very stupidly, stayed longer than he should've, but before he could get up, Naruto sat on the table, trapping Sasuke's legs between his and putting his hands on either side of the cushion on which Sasuke sat.

"Don't run away," said Naruto firmly as if he was merely throwing out a suggestion to someone under hypnosis.

"You're annoying."

Naruto took hold of his chin, and Sasuke froze at the touch. "Don't run away." He leaned in, inclining his head and stopped just short of Sasuke's mouth. "Don't run away," he said, and pressed their lips together.

Something snapped inside him, so loudly that he was surprised it couldn't be heard by Naruto. His arms went around Naruto's shoulders, and he pulled him closer, pulled him on top of his body so that he could feel that connection. His fingers were in Naruto's hair. Naruto had a hand on Sasuke's thigh, the other on his cheek, affectionately stroking his skin in an arch over his cheekbone. Naruto's kisses were fierce and possessive. His fingers were digging into Sasuke's thigh, even through the denim of his jeans. When Naruto broke the kiss, Sasuke tried to chase after his lips, so warm and soft were they that he felt somehow cold and empty without them.

"I didn't tell you back then," Naruto said as he put their foreheads together. "But you know how I said everyone fell for you? I meant _everyone _if that hadn't been clear enough for you."

"Shut up," Sasuke mumbled, his hands clutching Naruto's waist as if afraid he'd disappear.

"I won't shut up." He kissed Sasuke again, very slowly and very tenderly, his fingers lightly taking hold of Sasuke's neck as the pressure built. Sasuke pulled him by the front of his shirt and they sunk down again, into those soft cushions as Naruto's tongue entered his mouth and caressed his own tongue, teasing him in a way that might soon become apparent through his jeans if this went on any longer.

Naruto parted them again, his fingers running through Sasuke's hair.

"I don't regret going," said Sasuke, because he felt he had to be clear about it.

"I know you don't," Naruto said with a smile. "I know why you did it."

"It was for the best." He was ashamed of the way it sounded as though he were pleading, trying to convince himself even though he still felt it to have been the right decision.

Naruto kissed him again and then kissed down the side of his throat as fingers slipped under his shirt and pressed against his stomach. "I know, Sasuke. I know."

Sasuke sighed. He found he couldn't speak. It was all too much, this sensory overload. The completion. The questions and the possible regret that he wouldn't listen to because he'd done it all for Naruto's benefit. For his own even, and yet, this felt indescribably more fulfilling than anything he'd done in the years he'd been traveling the world.

Naruto's lips brushed his jaw, and he whispered to him through broken kisses. "These moments in your life you wish you'd taken hold of, they seem to slip through your fingers like air sometimes, don't they?"

Sasuke murmured something unintelligible as he pressed a hand to Naruto's lower back to keep him in place.

"If you're staying here only a few days, maybe I can convince you to stay a few more?" Naruto teased his earlobe with his teeth, nibbling it. "Maybe forever?"

"Don't push it, Naruto."

"I'll push it if I damn well feel like it," Naruto growled in his ear. "It's been too damn long. Once that swelling goes down, I'm gonna show you just _how _long."

"Very clever."

Naruto laughed low in his ear and hugged him. Sasuke hugged him back, clutching tightly to Naruto's shirt.

"Glad you came home, Sasuke." There was so much obvious relief, pleasure, and contentment in Naruto's voice it overwhelmed him for a second.

He took in Naruto's scent, breathing him in, and exhaled. "Me too."


End file.
